Reporter Michele McCormack of WGEM-TV, the NBC affiliate in Quincy, was told by two Department of Transport workers at the edge of the bridge that a man standing close by was first on the scene.
Scott's account of the flood sounded suspicious to Neal Baker, a sergeant with the Quincy Police Department.
Adams County, Illinois, sheriff's deputies questioned him a week after the flood, and he was unable to keep his story straight.
During questioning, he admitted to pulling four sandbags from one portion of the levee and moving them to the trouble spot he had claimed to have seen.
[5] Investigators subsequently found other witnesses who said Scott boasted about breaking the levee at a party after the flood.
[3] The law, codified as Section 569.070 of the Missouri Revised Statutes, defined a catastrophe as "death or serious physical injury to ten or more people or substantial damage to five or more buildings or inhabitable structures or substantial damage to a vital public facility which seriously impairs its usefulness or operation.
Prosecutors and investigators believed that Scott either removed or cut the plastic sheets covering the levee, then burrowed through the sand until the water rushed in.
[5] The defense rested largely on two soil-science experts who testified there was strong evidence the levee failed due to natural causes.
David Hammer of the University of Missouri said there had been "something like 11 or 12 levee failures" upriver from West Quincy, and Charles Morris of the University of Missouri-Rolla said a last-minute decision to bring in bulldozers to shore up the levee actually weakened its structural integrity.
[3] The prosecution presented numerous witnesses claiming to have heard Scott bragging about breaking the levee, and pointed to the inconsistencies in his story.
Prosecutors had not told the defense about two witnesses who reportedly heard Scott say he had deliberately broken the levee.
Since the flood was determined to have been caused by vandalism, rather than a natural disaster, Haerr was able to collect on his homeowner's insurance.
[12] According to the September 8, 2017 "Criminal" podcast episode titled "Catastrophe", that features Scott, he is eligible for parole in 2026.
[13][3][14] Journalism professor Adam Pitluk's 2007 book Damned to Eternity is critical of Scott's conviction.